In June, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Known as Rio+20 because it aims to address similar issues to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, its official discussions will focus on building a green economy to lift people out of poverty and improving international coordination for sustainable [...]
Archive for the ‘Sustainability’ Category
30 Dec
Vermont’s Plan for 90% Renewable Energy
While Irene proved little more than a light rain shower where I waited it out in New Hampshire, Tropical Storm Irene launched a surprise assault across the Connecticut River in Vermont. The resulting damage shocked the state and people across the country, but Vermonters now see the potential to rebuild infrastructure in a smarter way. [...]
8 Dec
Two Updates in Building Betterment
Earlier in the summer, The Green Mien covered the President’s Better Buildings Initiative (BBI), highlighting a recently published independent study that lauded the Initiative as a major American jobs creator. Driving the Initiative is a vision of a “clean energy economy” supported in large part by an energy efficient infrastructure. The President intends to hit [...]
16 Sep
The Bamboom: A Fast-Growing Grass Has Investors Seeing Green
Bamboo is renowned for being the fastest growing plant in the world. Its status as an environmentally friendly raw material – a more sustainable alternative to wood, pulp, and traditional textiles – is growing almost as quickly. Bamboo’s ascendancy is even reflected in the IPO market: we can find five initial public offering registrations by [...]
21 Jun
Dear Agencies, May the Goods You Acquire Contractually Be Sustainable
Sincerely, the President. Last week law firm Pepper Hamilton threw a big wet blanket (though perhaps not undeservedly) on a new interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to promote sustainable choices in government contracts. FAR is the set of rules (codified in Title 48 of the CFR) that govern government acquisition of goods [...]
2 Mar
Republicans Chip Away at “Green the Capitol” Initiative
In 2007, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi directed the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the House to develop a “Green the Capitol Initiative” that would “demonstrate leadership to the nation by providing an environmentally responsible and healthy working environment for employees.” The Final Report submitted by the CAO shortly after the directive detailed the [...]
